CIT Jurisdiction Legislation

The Proposed "United States Court of International Trade Modernization Act"

For several years, CITBA has been working in close collaboration with the United States Court of International Trade to facilitate the consideration of legislation that will modernize and improve access to judicial review under the U.S. customs and international trade laws.

The proposed legislation has several purposes. One is to correct judicial anomalies that have come to light in case law since the United States Court of International Trade was created in the Customs Court Act of 1980. A second purpose is to mesh the Court's jurisdiction more closely with current agency procedures, notably including the widespread use of post-entry customs audits. A third purpose is to expand the Court's jurisdiction to include more U.S. statutes governing international trade. A fourth and related purpose is to rebalance the workload in the federal judiciary by giving the Court jurisdiction over areas of the law that are logically related to its current role.

The latest draft of the proposed legislation and an explanation of the bill can be found below.